Surprise Me
by bcsm
Summary: One-shot Takes place during season 5, about a month after Murder He Wrote. Castle and Beckett decide to spend their 2nd weekend away together, this time at her cabin. On the car ride up Castle asks Beckett to tell him something that would surprise him and she certainly does! Reviews Welcome.


**Surprise me**

It had been a little over a month since Castle and Beckett had spent their first weekend away together in the Hamptons and Beckett was ready to spend another weekend away from the city with him, preferably one without any murders this time.

"Hey Castle," she said, as they were sharing a bottle of wine in her apartment one Wednesday evening, "How would you like to go up to my cabin this weekend? I was talking to my dad earlier and he mentioned that he has to stay in the city this weekend for work, so we would have the cabin all to ourselves. Lots of nature, peace and quiet and privacy." She added with a little grin.

"Roughing it in the woods." He replied "Remind me, do you guys have indoor plumbing up there?" he joked.

She gave him a playful shove and said,

Well it's not the Hamptons Castle, but yes, it has all the basic amenities."

"I'm only kidding." he said "Of course, I would love spend the weekend with you at your cabin. It would be great to see the place that has been such a big part of your life. Plus, privacy is always a good thing." he added as he leaned over and planted a little kiss on her.

A few days later Castle pulled up in front of Beckett's building. She was waiting for him. He jumped out of the car and went to put her bag in the trunk.

"Hi. All set?" he asked, as he gave her a quick kiss and grabbed her bag.

"All set." she said with a smile, excited to be going away with him again.

They jumped in the car and made their way out of Manhattan.

About 20 minutes into their drive Castle said,

"So Kate, tell me something that would surprise me."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well, tell me something about yourself that I don't already know, something you think I would be surprised to hear."

Kate thought for a minute then said,

"OK, I think I came up with something that I'm going to guess, will be really surprising to you."

"Great, I'm intrigued." He said.

"Remember when I was dating Demming?" she asked.

"Of course, but do I have to?" Castle asked, "That really isn't a fond memory."

"Humor me." She said "Think back to that first time you asked me if I wanted to spend the weekend at your house in the Hamptons. Remember how I turned you down because I already had plans with Demming. Then you told me that the case we were working on at the time, was going to your last case. That you were going spend the summer focusing on your writing."

"I remember." said Castle, curious about where this was going.

"Well you telling me that this was going to be your last case affected me a lot more then I might have let on. It forced me to look at what you and I had and how important you had become to me. It also made me take a hard look at my relationship with Demming. I realized that the relationship he and I had wasn't what I truly wanted, and as a mater of fact, I actually ended things with him the next day." said Beckett, looking over to see Castle's reaction.

"Wait, hold on a minute." said Castle "Your telling me that you broke up with Demming the day after I told you that this was going to be my last case?"

"I did." said Beckett "but there's more. Remember during your little going away party when I asked to speak with you privately? I said something about the fact that I was a really hard person to get to know and that I didn't always let people know what was on my mind. Then I told you what a great time I'd had working with you. Well," Beckett took a deep breath, "Believe it or not, I was about to suggest that maybe you and I should try spending a little time together away from the precinct, but before I could get the words out, Gina showed up and you know what happened after that."

Castle was silent for a moment. His mouth hung open a little in shock.

"I can't believe it." he finally said "Wow, that is definitely a surprise. I really had no idea." He paused for a second, then said "You know, it's crazy how unfair life can be sometimes. You want to know something?"

"OK" said Beckett

"The only reason I decided to stop following you then, was because watching you with Demming was to painful." Castle said, "Ironically, I only let things start up again with Gina, because I was trying to distract myself from thinking about you. Man, if only Gina had showed up five minutes later, who knows what might have happened?"

"Wow, you're right, life sure can be unfair at times." Beckett replied, thinking about what he had just told her.

"But you know what Castle," she said after a minute, "Looking back, I'm glad Gina showed up when she did. I mean don't get me wrong, it was very depressing at the time, watching the two of you walk away, with your arm around her. However, if something had happened between us back then, who knows if it would have worked out. I was still carrying around a lot of baggage at that point."

"Yes, those walls." said Castle

"Those walls." agreed Beckett "They definitely were still up then."

"Well, OK then, thank you Gina for keeping us apart" said Castle "Now there's a sentence I never thought I'd say." he added.

They both laughed, then sat quietly for a few minutes, mulling over what had just been revealed. Castle eventually broke the silence by saying,

"So, this confession of yours has me wondering, were there any other times when we were close to crossing that line, that I am unaware about?" Castle asked.

"There might be." she replied in a teasing voice.

"Spill it!" he said.

"Alright, our trip to LA." Beckett replied.

"What about it?" he asked.

"Remember that night that we shared a few drinks in the hotel suite and I was talking to you about Royce. Then you said some really nice things about me and there was a moment when we just stared at each other and…."

"You ran away." he said, interrupting her.

"Yes," agreed Kate, "I ran away. "But what you don't know is that when I closed the door to my room, I stood there feeling so conflicted. My heart was practically beating out of my chest. I wanted you at that moment. It scared me, but I wanted you and so I told myself to just stop fighting it and I actually turned around and opened my door. Just as I stepped back into the main room, I saw your bedroom door close." Again, she looked over at him to see his reaction.

"Ahhhh, you're killing me Kate!" He responded, shaking his head. He paused for a second and then said "I knew you felt something during that moment. I could see it in your eyes. Man, I wanted to kiss you so badly and I really thought for a second that it was going to happen, but then you got up and said good night. If only I had stayed on that couch a minute longer."

"Yea, well I have no doubt, it would have been lot fun." Beckett said "But again, who knows what would have become of our relationship if we had actually hooked up in LA. I mean technically, I was still with Josh then, even though that really wasn't where my heart was. Also, as you know, I was still battling those demons of mine at that time. So, I think the the fact that it didn't happen was definitely for the best." She added.

"Yes again, I guess I have to agree with you. It probably wouldn't have been the best timing, but wow Kate, I have to say my mind is a little blown right now. This car ride has been very enlightening indeed." Castle said.

"You asked me to tell you something that would surprise you." Beckett replied "I guess I accomplished that." She said with a grin.

"Yup, you sure did." he said smiling back at her. "You sure did!"

About an hour later they pulled up to the cabin.

"Wow it's gorgeous up here." said Castle, as they got their bags out of the car "No wonder you and your dad love spending time here."

"It is gorgeous." She agreed "This place really is a sanctuary for us. Come on, let me give you a tour." She added, excited to be able to share it with him.

She unlocked the front door and they stepped inside. The cabin was very charming, he thought.

"So, this is obviously the living room." she said "And over here is….."

Castle stopped her by grabbing her hand. He pulled her towards him. She looked at him and smiled with that breathtaking smile of hers. Wow is she beautiful, he thought. He returned the smile and just gazed at her for a second or two.

"What is it?" She asked inquisitively.

A strand of her hair had fallen in front of her face. He gently pushed it aside and said,

"You know, I was just thinking about our conversation in the car. Discussing those times that we both wanted to be with each other, but weren't, because something or someone prevented it, has made me all the more grateful, for what we finally have now."

Beckett nodded in agreement. She wrapped her arms around him and said,

I know. It might have taken a while, but it was so worth the wait."

She leaned in and kissed him. He enthusiastically returned the kiss and it became more intense, more heated, each of them reveling in the fact that they could now kiss each other when ever they felt like it. After a minute Castle pulled back and said with a smile,

"About that tour, what do you say we start with the bedroom?"

The end.


End file.
